Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

Game 91: Boston at Toronto pregame

While discussing innings limits for a few of his pitchers, Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston was asked if Brian Tallet’s innings would need to be monitored similarly — seeing as he was moved from the bullpen to the rotation earlier this year.

“Since you asked that, we’re going to move Tallet back into the bullpen,” Gaston replied.

Part of the reason is, yes, the Jays need to watch his work load, considering he’s been a reliever throughout his career and he’s almost thrown more innings this season than in the last two combined already. The other reason is Toronto has so many off-days coming up that the club doesn’t require a fifth starter until July 25 — a start tentatively planned for Tallet.

So, on Saturday, the Blue Jays will send rookie lefty Marc Rzepczynski to the mound to face the Red Sox. Initially, it was thought that Scott Richmond (sore right shoulder) would be activated from the DL and inserted back into the rotation after the All-Star break. Gaston said today that Richmond will likely be sidelined until the Oakland series at the end of the month.

With so many off-days, there’s really no rush to bring Richmond back, especially if Rzepczynski can continue to hold his own. After this three-game set with Boston, Toronto has off-days on Monday and July 30, as well as five off-days in August (on the 3rd, 6th, 13th, 17th and 27th). Enjoy the rest, Jays, because in September? One day off on the 17th.

Blue Jays center fielder Vernon Wells was out of the starting lineup on Friday night due to a stomach virus, according to Gaston. Toronto’s manager didn’t expect Wells to miss too much time.

And, no, ace Roy Halladay has not been traded yet. But he was on the field giving a pitching clinic to two young boys from the local Rookie League.

On June 26, the Jays Care Foundation hosted a charity auction and one was for a private pitching lessons with Doc. A bidding war ensued and Brandy Halladay, Doc’s wife, allowed the top two bidders to take part in the lesson. The second winner, with no kids of his own, donated the spots to Jays Care.

The foundation awared the spots to 10-year-old Faris Adamou and 12-year-old Joseph Bryan, who play in the Rookie League — a baseball program for kids within Toronto Community Housing. They began by playing catch with Halladay in the outfield and then moved by the mound, where Doc gave them personal tips.

LOL Delucci, gsjays – here is a question for you: Why are they married to Delucci, when Buck coats is a left handed bat hitting over .300 with 22 stolen bases with the 51s this year? He would immediately become the fastest man on the club, has a centre fielder’s arm, and he couldn’t do worse at the plate than Adams or Delucci.

Here is another minor leaguer to keep an eye on: Adam Loewen has appeared in 65 games for Dunedin, in 216 AB is hitting .245 with 14 doubles, 1 triple, and 2 HR. He has walked 33 times, struck out 66, and has an OBP of .348. A work in progress, but not bad for a broken down pitcher.

Actually, I had thought Delucci would have been assigned over the all-star break. I expected they would bring Snider back up since he’s hit 4 hr’s, 1 double, 3 singles and walked 8 times in his last 31 at bats for a .520obp.
Snider would be my preference over Coats because he has more pop, BUT to be frank with you, we could sign a little leaguer who’d be better on defense and offense than Delucci.

Snider is the guy everybody wants, but I think the Jays are going to be a bit patient with him this time around. He’s hitting OK, but the will probably want to see him perform well for longer than 8 games or so. We are all waiting for Travis, but in the meantime, I thought Coats would fill in better than Adams and Delucci.
I just like what speed can do for you, and, like pitching, you can never have enough of it. They should add stolen bases to a player’s slugging percentage, and you would see more players with “pop”

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